GM Touts “Game-Changer” Battery Technology

General Motors Co. CEO Dan Akerson tells the company's employees there's a "better than 5:50 chance" that battery technology from Envia Systems Inc. can double the range of current electric cars.

GM Ventures LLC invested $7 million in the Newark, Calif.-based company 18 months ago. Envia says its lithium-ion system has demonstrated energy density of 400 Wh/kg compared to no more than 180 Wh/kg with current-generation lithium-ion batteries.

The battery developer attributes the improvement to its proprietary cathode and anode chemistries. Envia's cathodes use a manganese-rich composition with twice the energy density of lithium cobalt oxide used in today's lithium-ion systems. The company's cells use anodes made of a silicon-carbon nanocomposite.

Envia expects its batteries to cost $125 per kWh compared with $250-$350 per kWh for today's lithium-ion systems. The company estimates that an EV could travel 300 miles per charge with one of its batteries, which would cost less than a conventional lithium-ion battery with less than half the range.

Envia does materials research and pilot production in California. Its cell prototyping and manufacturing plant is in Jiaxing, China.